The other day, I came across a video of a linguist speaking about his motivation to learn multiple languages. The video itself wasn’t anything special, but it reminded me of my good old friend, Sherman, who is also a language enthusiast. The two have a lot in common.
It brought me some memories of when I was in the US. Sherman was my roommate then. We used to chat before sleep. The lamp shed a faint light into the room and onto the books stacked on the shelf. I remember Sherman once said that he wanted to know eight different languages, and I guess he finally achieved the goal before leaving UC Berkeley. His list included French, English, German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and one more that I can’t remember. My memory is no longer what it used to be. That, unfortunately, must be a sign of getting old.
Although I can’t share the enjoyment in language learning as he does, I truly admire Sherman’s passion for it. Enthusiasm is a vital ingredient in all human endeavors where greatness sparks.